Day 94: Catch Me If You Can
"Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse, wouldn't quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. Gentlemen, as of this moment, I am that second mouse."
Welcome back again, my thirsty readers. After three mentally-draining months, many people are going back to their routines. I myself have recently began bartending again, serving actual guests! That means our daily time together must be coming to an end soon. We've all overcome so much during this time of self-reflection, proving to ourselves that we can do so much more than we realized. Sometimes, you need to just put yourself out there, even if you think you'll fail.
I've certainly made my love of mid-century art and culture pretty well known. That probably comes as no surprise, considering I have more aloha shirts in my closet, than most people have socks. Not bragging by any means, I'm pretty sure I have a problem. I suppose that's one of the things we love so much about tiki bars, being transported back to another time, only with less of the problematic elements of that time. It's nice to time-travel, while staying aware. The 2002 film, Catch Me If You Can, brought so much of that retro imagery to life.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, the movies tells the story of Frank Abagnale. Before the age of 19, Abagnale posed as a Pan-Am pilot, a Georgia doctor, and a Louisiana prosecutor, committing several million dollars of fraud along the way. His story tells a valuable lesson, proving we can truly achieve whatever we want. Everything is about perception after all.
"You know why the Yankees always win, Frank?" Frank Jr. answered his father, "Because they have Mickey Mantle?" He smiled and looked back."No, it's because no one can keep their eyes off those damn pinstripes." Chefs have been using this mentality for years, saying "We eat with our eyes first." They aren't wrong.
When you step into a modern cocktail bar, there's a feeling of being elsewhere. After all, I think that's what everyone is looking for, an escape from the ordinary. With that in mind, we try and give you that little something extra. In New Orleans, they have a word for that, and it's called "lagniappe." It's that little extra you weren't expecting. Another way to put it, would be "exceeding expectations." Nobody ever thought young Frank Abagnale would achieve so much, even if he did so by less than legal means. My hope is that we'll be able to give you more than you expected. I hope you'll leave our bars and restaurants wondering what just happened to you, an experience so mind-blowing, you can't believe it was real.You deserve that, so go ahead, dive in, come along, and catch me if you can.
Catch Me If You Can
100ml Maggie's Farm Airline Overproof Rum Bottle (If you can't source this rum, 3.5oz of an unaged overproof can do in a pinch)
2.5oz Aged Jamaican Rum (I used Appleton 12)
2oz Yellow Chartreuse
2oz Don's Spices #2
2oz Passion Fruit Syrup
1.5oz Lemon Juice
1.5oz Lime Juice
3oz Pineapple Juice
Large Tiki bowl
Whip shake all ingredients, except airline bottle, and pour unstrained. (you may want to use two shakers)
Top with crushed ice.
Place airline bottle upside down in bowl.
Garnish with mint sprigs, grapefruit wrapped cinnamon sticks, flowers, and I made a small runway with a monstera leaf and little ice planes.
Is this drink a bit ridiculous? You'd better believe it, but life has been a bit ridiculous lately. Hopefully you can grab a few friends and tackle this. We certainly couldn't approach the triple digits without a large bowl of fun after all. As we pull ourselves back up, and get back to creating, this would be a good time to think about the world we'd like to create for ourselves and those around us. I know I'm looking forward to what the future might bring. Keep dreaming, keep loving, and keep shaking.